Manchester City 4-3 Real Madrid
A meeting between a new force and an established superpower.
The scene was set for the Champions League semi-final at the City of Manchester Stadium.
What followed were Champions League highlights galore befitting of the occasion and a first leg which will live long in the memory of neutrals.
Highlights of the game
This SBOTOP writer always fancied the hosts – after all they have become regulars at Europe’s top table and a club on the up.
Yet Real Madrid, despite being dubbed an ageing team by some critics, have a character that few can match – led by the guile of Carlo Ancelotti and fully demonstrated in previous rounds against big-spending Paris St Germain and reigning European champions Chelsea.
They also have arguably the best player in world football right now in Karim Benzema.
City made four changes for the 11 that began the 5-1 win over Watford on Saturday with starts for John Stones, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden.
Neither Joao Cancelo (suspended) nor Kyle Walker (injury) were in the squad.
Real, 15 points clear at the top of La Liga, had the luxury of resting some players from their 3-1 win at Osasuna six days ago so were expected to ring the changes with Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Vinicius Junior among those returning.
The Champions League betting odds did not expect this to be goalless with such attacking talent on both sides.
But it didn’t predict two goals in the first 11 minutes either which set the scene for a compelling seven goal thriller which was as breathless as it was attackingly relentless.
Little more than 90 seconds were on the clock when Kevin de Bruyne bravely headed home a Mahrez delivery.
If that start stunned Los Blancos, they were shell-shocked when young Foden found de Bruyne whose low cross was slotted home by Gabriel Jesus.
The visitors could not cope yet they refused to budge and, out of nothing, Benzema – who else – produced a beautifully cushioned finish 12 minutes before the break to drag them back into the tie.
Into the second half and there was simply no let-up with a further two goals in three minutes.
City restored their advantage through Foden as he headed home unmarked from a superb cross by Fernandinho – on for the injured Stones – only for Real to hit back immediately as the ever improving Vinicius ran clear and converted smartly into the bottom corner.
City deserved to be further ahead and were rewarded when play was continued, despite Oleksandr Zinchenko being fouled on the edge of the area, and Bernardo Silva rifled a superb finish into the top corner beyond a helpless Thibaut Courtois.
Still Real rallied and when Aymeric Laporte handled in the box, the moment of the match arrived as the sublime Benzema pulled off the “Panenka” and chipped his penalty down the middle.
Some nerve, some style. Some tie.
Key statistics
This was the joint-highest scoring ever Champions League semi-final, along with Ajax 5-2 Bayern Munich (April 1995) and Liverpool 5-2 Roma (April 2018).
Benzema is the first player to score 40+ goals in a single season for Real Madrid since Cristiano Ronaldo left them in 2018, with Ronaldo the last to do so for the club in 2017-18 (44).
He is also the first player in Champions League history to score as many as five goals away from home in the knockout stages against clubs from a single nation in a season.
No English player has scored more goals in the Champions League while aged 21 or younger than Man City’s Phil Foden (nine, level with Wayne Rooney).
Real have not won any of their previous fur trips to face Manchester City in European competitions (drawn two, lost two).
City manager Pep Guardiola has eliminated Real Madrid from the knockout stages of the Champions League on two previous occasions – once in the 2011 semi-finals with Barcelona and again in last 16 in 2020 with City.
What’s next?
Ahead of next Wednesday’s second leg (May 4), both sides have important league games – particularly City who travel to Leeds on Saturday teatime.
That takes place a few hours after Real entertain Espanyol in La Liga knowing they require just a point to be crowned Spanish champions.
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